In England there is another source of education in making lace:
Girl Guides can earn a badge by making a piece of lace. However, I have
no idea how many take up this opportunity, nor whether numbers are
higher or lower than they used to be.
I discovered this to my own amazement. Something like fifteen or twenty
years ago, High Wycombe opened an Arts Centre close to my home, and a
group for lace makers started up. I took along my pillow and met some
other ladies. We were not a class, just there for companionship, but
one of the members was also a teacher and she worked with local Girl
Guides. (Her grandmother had been a local lace maker - one who was
still able to sell her lace - and she still used her grandmother's
pillow horse. Although a Buckinghamshire lace maker, the patterns she
bequeathed were more typical of Bedfordshire lace.)
I have checked the website listing Girl Guide badges (U.K.)
http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/guides/gfibadge/badges/craft.html
but it does not give any indication of numbers working for this badge,
or earning it in any given year. However, it is possible that there are
some, and these young ladies would not appear on any class register in
the usual Adult Education system. And, of course, there is no way of
knowing whether they go on with it in later life. There is a call for
people to volunteer to help Guides, whatever their skills and however
little time they have; this does not seem to be the same as being a
leader or organiser, just to help individuals earn a particular badge.
http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/get_involved/volunteer.aspx
This might be attractive to some of you who like to teach.
To answer other questions, I am myself largely self-taught, using the
Raie Clare book and video, and have only ever been to one class in my
life, (a 'Saturday School' which I did not enjoy). When I decided to
learn, it was because I was inspired by another lady, a member of our
local Women's Institute. It was the beauty and history of the pillow
that attracted me. Come to think of it - The W.I. used to run a good
many courses in making lace; and not all the members are elderly, we had
at least one teenager, and several young women during my own membership.
Linda Walton,
(in wet and windy but warm High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, U.K.).
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